Photomasks are widely used for manufacturing semiconductor device, as integrated circuits, semiconductor memories, semiconductor imagers and the like. Photomasks of a size scaled up with respect to the final product are also known as reticles. Photomasks which have the same size as the final product and are widely used in photolithographic techniques, are also called 1:1 stencils.
The known photomasks are generally manufactured by a photolithographic technique wherein a metal film is selectively masked with a photoresist pattern and etched off, where the film is not protected by the photoresist. Such a technique comprises numerous method steps of which several are wet chemical steps, and is therefore relatively expensive and time-consuming.